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Do cruise ships leave you behind?

Ready for your next cruise? Don’t be late or risk being left behind.

By Cruise Booking Team

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Missing a cruise ship at an outlandish location can result in a ruffle of your plan and might also throw unnecessary challenges for your trip. In this regard, you should know that a cruise ship may leave you behind if you arrive too late. 

Do cruise ships leave you behind?

However, cruise lines have several ways to help you out, and you may contact the ship staff at the port for help.

Will a cruise ship wait for you?

A cruise ship may wait for you for proper reasons. Also, there is a buffer time between the all-aboard time and the gangplank removal time. Also, if you have booked an excursion with a cruise, in usual cases, a cruise line will wait for you.

Additionally, tours are planned by keeping ample time for medical emergencies, traffic, or other unprecedented events. Hence, cruise lines often assure you they will only leave with you if you book tours.

When can you board a cruise ship last?

In short, you can board a cruise ship as long as there is a gangway. If the captain is aware that someone from the cruise has yet to arrive, they will wait as long as the time permits. So, once the ship removes its gangway, you cannot board.

Reasons ships leave passengers behind

The captain decides when to leave a port and similar allied factors in cruises. For example, cruise lines pay to dock and don’t want to pay an extra charge. Besides this, there might be higher fuel charges, and ships don’t want to arrive at the next port late. Hence, ships can leave passengers if it’s charging for the cruise.

How to plan not to miss your cruise?

There are several ways to plan your cruise to take advantage of it. A few of those include the following –

1. Know the time for ‘all aboard’

Knowing the ‘all aboard’ time is crucial, as the cruise authorities expect everyone to be onboard. Although the gangplank removal time is late, you should adjust your clock as per the ‘all aboard’ time.

2. Inform the ship if you are running late

When you board a ship, the authorities scan your RFID device or key card to get the attendance information. Regardless, if you are running late, inform the authorities that the rules will help you with your problem, and they might also wait for you, if at all feasible.

3. Opt for ship-sponsored shore excursion

If you bought a ship-sponsored shore excursion and are running late, the cruise will only leave with you. Also, it is a matter of counts; if many passengers are stranded, they can join on the next port of call.

Final words

Hence, it is evident that a ship may leave you behind if you arrive too late. However, if you arrive late, contact the relevant personnel, who will direct you to the following procedures. For instance, they may arrange to get your luggage back and may contact the cruise so that you can join them in the next port of call.

Header Image by uiinternational at Freepik

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